In this update:
1. Gender reassignments get Walker donors out of legal jeopardy
2. Proposals to limit voter power top agenda for Assembly marathon session
3. Publisher issues mea culpa over factual errors in Walker book
4. Groups busted in California funneled big money into Wisconsin

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Gender reassignments get Walker donors out of legal jeopardy
Governor Scott Walker recently amended his campaign finance report for the first six months of 2013 to lower contributions made by some of his high-end donors in order to protect them from being found in violation of campaign finance law. He did it by reducing the original contributions to him by six individuals and treating the difference between the original and the reduced contributions as entirely new donations from each individual’s spouse. Read the rest of the story on our Big Money Blog.

Proposals to limit voter power top agenda for Assembly marathon session
Republicans who control the state Assembly are starting a marathon session today that will likely stretch into Friday. On the docket are bills to restrict early voting, rework Wisconsin’s voter ID law in hopes of overcoming court challenges and constitutional obstacles, and limit the ability of the public to recall elected officials. Minority Democrats announced Tuesday night they will attempt to force a vote on redistricting reform. While such action is better late than never, the Wisconsin State Journal rightly pointed out in an editorial today that the Democrats could have acted on redistricting reform in 2009 and 2010 when they controlled the legislature but did not.

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Publisher issues mea culpa over factual errors in Walker book
While working on a critique of Governor Walker’s book, Unintimidated, veteran news reporter Bill Lueders of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism extracted a rare admission from the publisher that key facts in the book are wrong. Using Democracy Campaign tallies of spending in the 2011 and 2012 recall elections, Lueders challenged some of Walker’s claims in the book about spending by labor unions and Democrats against him and legislative allies who also were targeted for recall. A publicist for the book’s publisher acknowledged the spending claims made by Walker were obtained from “interviews with GOP campaign operatives” who estimated spending at the time, not “a comprehensive listing like the one generated by WDC” after the elections.

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Groups busted in California funneled big money into Wisconsin
Two groups connected to the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch that last month paid a record $1 million to settle allegations of election campaign improprieties in California also have been busy funneling money into elections in Wisconsin, according to a media report published yesterday that heavily cites Democracy Campaign findings.

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign is working for a real democracy that allows the common good to prevail over narrow interests. We track the money in state politics and fight for campaign finance and other democracy reforms. WDC is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and charitable contributions supporting our work are fully tax deductible when you itemize.